Reality check
I showed the kids a Generation One video
which has some scary but true statistics comparing the chances of Indigenous
and non-Indigenous Australians achieving their aspirations.
Student perceptions of their future
I felt it was important to understand my students perceptions of what
they think they will achieve, since this project is based on my assumption that
my students do not value education and do not aspire to achieve the things that
education can enable you to do (work and live a productive life).
I asked students to think about the following statements from the
video:
I asked them to decide if they think those things would happen to them when they are older. We discussed each one briefly so that they understood what it would mean for them to achieve those things. For each statement my students ticked 'yes' 'no' or 'maybe' on a piece of paper that was kept anonymous. I realised this could be challenging or confronting for some, so I gave them the option to not answer a question if they didn’t want to.
The results
1. Do you think you will finish high school?
I got my students to think of how many people they knew who had finished school. They were able to list a number of students who had, but we took note that those people had to move to Adelaide to do that. One student was excited to think that there would be all the students in year 12 in the community at the moment to add to the list at the end of the year. I had to explain that unfortunately it was very unlikely that any of them would be completing their SACE this year, because they hadn't come to school enough on a regular basis.
2. Do you think you will go to university and get a degree?
We tried to think of how many people from our school had gone to
university and we could only think of 1.
So far I was pretty surprised and happy with their optimism in their
responses but part of me felt that hadn’t fully considered what it would mean
to do either of those things.
3. Do you think you will get a real job?
We talked about how a real job meant that you had skills to offer and you
were usually expected to go to work from 9-5, for up to 5 days a week and may
be paid enough money for doing that job that you wouldn’t need or get welfare
payments. When I mentioned that, a few of them were a little quiet,
perhaps imagining what it would be like to not get welfare payments, since they
may not know anyone in that situation (besides perhaps their teachers and other
service providers in the community).
4. Do you think you will own your own home?
I had to explain that no one in this community owned their own home
and they had all been given their home from the government. I also explained
that in order to buy your own home you had to have a large amount of money
saved up and would have to make payments for a long time.
5. Do you think you will live past 65?
I got the kids to work out if anyone in their family was over 65 or if
they could think of anyone in the community that was over 65. We could think of
only a few.
One student explained to me that they were going to answer ‘maybe’
since no one knows how old you will live, you just die when you die. I
explained that choices you make today and along the way in life, can affect your
health and how long you live for.
I noticed that at this point, some of the kids had distracted
themselves and more kids didn’t want to answer the question. I thought that
perhaps this was too much to be considering, but at the same time I wanted my
students to realise that if they want something different for their life (than
what the statistics show) they may need to consider the choices they make.
Raising awareness
Confronting or not, ultimately I think its important that my students
are at least aware of the disparities that exist - if they are informed they
can choose to challenge the disparities but if they are not, they may fall victims
of their situations. I believe my students can play an active part in breaking
their own cycle, but only if they are aware of the cycle that exists.
Not achievable or not important?
Who’s idea of success?
I think its important to acknowledge that all of these aspirations we discussed in my class would be considered factors of success in western civilization and education plays a large role in enabling people to achieve those things.
I think its important to acknowledge that all of these aspirations we discussed in my class would be considered factors of success in western civilization and education plays a large role in enabling people to achieve those things.
It’s also important to realise that the factors of success in a remote
Indigenous context may look very different. For example: what would be the
point of owning your own house, when you know you will be given one for free?
Not achievable or not important?
If students are answering ‘no’ to these questions then I think we need
to find out if this is because these things are viewed as not important or as not
achievable.
If achieving
these aspirations is not important
then we need to acknowledge this and adjust education to suit the real needs
and aspirations of our students; providing the right environment for students
to flourish.
If it is
seen as not achievable then it is
important to break down misconceptions and inspire the students to believe that
they can achieve western success factors if they wish to and support them to do
so.
I think if
we spent less time focused on pushing our own ‘white’ agenda there would be more
time to work closely with students, families and the wider community to deliver
an education which is relevant and enables our most disadvantaged students to
be successful in their own way and reach their full potential.